"It's sad because the beach is New Zealand's favourite playground but it can also be extremely dangerous," he said.
"If people can change their 'she'll be right' attitude towards surf safety, so they don't underestimate the risks and overestimate their own abilities, then we will be on our way to helping reduce drowning on our beaches."
Mr Dalton said most drownings occurred at unpatrolled beaches.
Water Safety NZ chief executive Matt Claridge said this year had been disappointing, with 71 drownings compared with 65 this time last year.
Beaches across the country were seemingly calm yesterday, with some rather empty due to the weather.
Muriwai patrol captain Damian Molloy said there weren't many people at the west coast Auckland beach due to the bad weather.
His advice to swimmers was to "swim together and not as individuals".
Waihi Beach was calm and safe yesterday, patrol captain Ellena Regin said. "It's been a nice day with small surfs."
Today will bring sun to most of the North Island, with "plenty of sunshine" in store for Auckland.
However, MetService meteorologist Melissa Roux said Waikato and Northland would be cloudy.
Showers would develop in the central North Island in the afternoon, with possible thunderstorms and hail in eastern Waikato, Coromandel, Taupo and Tauranga.
Two people have died in road crashes so far this weekend - one fewer than last Labour Weekend.
A man died yesterday morning after being struck by two heavy trucks on State Highway 39 in Waikato. Police said it appeared the pedestrian was struck by northbound trucks in Pirongia about 2.30am.
The death comes after a 21-year-old Puketutu man was killed when he crashed his motorbike at the intersection of Hutchinson and Morrinsville-Walton roads about 6am on Saturday.
There were 78 reported injury crashes during Labour Weekend last year, resulting in three deaths and 21 serious injuries.
National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said drivers should take care when returning home from their holiday.
"There's still quite some time to go."
The focus this weekend was for drivers to get to their destination safely, he said.
"We cannot do it alone. Every person on the road needs to make good choices to stay safe and allow for others who do make mistakes."
Police were enforcing a reduced 4km/h speed threshold over the official weekend holiday period, which began at 4pm on Friday and runs until 6am tomorrow.
Rugby World Cup fans mostly stuck to the police advice after heading to bars yesterday morning.
An Auckland police spokeswoman said staff ran a number of checkpoints between 10pm and 8am, and eight drivers blew over the legal alcohol limit.
